{which holiday treat are you?}

Turns out, I’m a gingerbread house, which is really pretty accurate considering I’m sweet and crusty most of the time. According to the quiz, I'm a gingerbread house because:

“Wild holiday parties? Not your thing. Since your home is such a tasty place (nonpareils, gumdrops, and licorice are very welcoming), you'd rather hang out there with a small group of invited guests. The holidays are a lot of work for you, but it all feels worth it when everyone compliments your artful decorations and inspired seasonal soundtrack. You surround yourself with sweetness at home, so you don't feel the need to venture out -- you're happier in your own, carefully-constructed holiday surroundings.”

Which holiday treat are you? Click the image below to find out!

{guest post from my hot husband, Paul}

Kristin and I have been thoroughly enjoying her clever Advent calendar. In fact, tonight's Advent activity is to blog on each others blog. So I thought that I would post a Christmas activity list for all Kristin's readers looking for a simple way to add some simple joys to this Advent season.

1) Go to the library and check out some Christmas movies (my favorite is the Charlie Brown Christmas).
2) Call a long lost relative or friend to wish them a happy Christmas.
3) Read Luke 2:1-20
4) Listen to King's College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (at 3pm GMT or 10am Eastern on Christmas Eve).
5) By some peppermint ice cream and hot fudge and enjoy a winter treat.
6) Go ice skating.
7) Give a gift to someone you know in financial need.
8) Drink coffee and read all day long.

Cheers!

NOTE FROM KRISTIN: Check out my post on Paul's blog here.

{i'm famous!}

Okay, not quite. But gotta toot my own horn every now and then...

My advent calendar got a mention on the "who's who of scrapbooking" blog, scrapscene.com. Pretty cool! Plus a reader gave me this comment, "This has got to be cutest most clever Advent Calendar I have ever seen!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us! Hope you & your family have a wonderful Holiday season filled with love, peace, & laughter!" Aw, how sweet.

{santa and his friends}

Last night, we took a trip to the carnival of gaudy and overdone Christmas décor that is one of the houses on our street. I wish I could show you the entire display. Unfortunately, dark enough for the lights is too dark to photograph. But I was able to get a photo of Santa and a couple of his friends:

{advent}

One of my fondest Christmas memories is opening the tiny little doors of a paper advent calendar. Every year, my mom would buy my sister and I our own little calendars (her way of providing peace on earth—no fighting over who got to open the doors). I haven't had an advent calendar for years and I miss the tradition. So after seeing some really cute scrappy advent calendar ideas on the blogs I read at work, I just had to make one. I saw a wall-mounted, tree-shaped picture holder at Pier 1 a few weeks ago and snatched it up, just planning to hang it on the wall bare. But inspiration struck an advent calendar tree was born:

The backs of all the squares have activities for Paul and I to do each day (like drink hot chocolate and give each other foot massages). It makes us feel like kids again, finding ourselves racing to the tree and eagerly anticipating a new activity. And we like the idea of developing new Christmas traditions and incorporating old ones that we can enjoy now and share with our kids when the time comes.

What are your Christmas traditions—old or new? Wishing you a joy-filled advent season!